LED bulbs vary color of PPL building holiday lights

The lights forming the Christmas tree and candle on the PPL Tower in downtown… (FRANK WARNER, THE MORNING…)

November 26, 2013|By Frank Warner, Of The Morning Call

The giant holiday lights on the PPL Tower in downtown Allentown for the first time include touches of continuously changing color, company officials said Tuesday.

The lights came on at 5 p.m. Monday.

The 3-story-tall flame on the 12-story candle shows a subtle flicker, slowing changing from yellow to orange to red on the west side of the 24-story building.

On the building's east face, the ball at the top of the 12-story Christmas tree goes through the whole color spectrum.

The changing colors are made possible by PPL's new LED lights, which illuminate the window shades that form the candle and tree.

Not only do the colors change, but the lights are a little brighter across the window shades, according to Bob Hoerner, PPL's director of corporate facilities.

"The light in the window is much more uniform than it used to be," Hoerner added. "With LEDs, it seems, they can aim the individual bulbs a little bit."

The LEDs were installed after all 765 windows on the building were replaced this year. During that project, crews removed the fluorescent lights previously used for the holiday display.

Hoerner said the PPL Tower's holiday lights are a tradition that dates to the 1930s.

"It's been 70 to 75 yaers that it's been lit," he said. "We know a lot of people in the Lehigh Valley look forward to seeing the lights. It's something we do to support the community each year."

The LED lights are just the latest stage in the evolution of the holiday displays, he said.

"The first ones didn't have any lights in the windows," Hoerner said. "They simply left the lights on in the building. In the old photos, you can actually see the interior doors and the office space in the windows."

Lights on the east side of the building once formed a giant wreath. At that time, the Christmas tree was on the west side. Then air conditioning units interfered with the tree, so the tree moved to the east side and the candle appeared.

The building's holiday lights went dark in 1973, when the Arab Oil Embaro touched off a severe energy crisis. The lights didn't return until 1991.

This year, the LED lights frame 102 windows – 62 for the Christmas tree, 40 for the candle. A few of the lights are strung diagonally across the windows.

Hoerner said the brightened windows use 660 lineal feet of LED light fixtures, which hold nearly 10,000 LEDs.